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crooked-wasteland · 1 year ago

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How I Came to Love the Bomb: Mammon's Musical Special and the Spectacle of Mediocrity

A little more than halfway through the second season, Helluva Boss has finally found its place where it performs best: embracing its own mediocrity with an emphasis on shallow storytelling and a narrative death spiral that only serves to strip the world and characters of depth every time they are engaged with. It’s almost disappointing to see how highly rated this episode is by fellow critics solely because of the superficial aspects that add nothing to the plot, nor do these scenes affect change in the characters. It is far from the worst episode, but it has every major narrative flaw from every previous episode inside of it, that seems to get a pass because it's a “Special” and not necessarily expected to progress the main series in any way. My counterpoint is that an episode that is self-contained should then be able to narratively progress a character, if not the plot, which Medrano and her team continues to fail to accomplish.

To make my points concise, I will alternatively deconstruct the episode as is while including a general rewrite of how Medrano could have accomplished the same story with any shred of competence.

The narrative needs to skip around a bit, so, starting from the present, FizzaRolli is in a frenzied state of distress while looking for his foundation to hide his imperfections. It is far from a subtle metaphor of Fizz requiring the image of perfection while being “broken” underneath. It isn’t in any way revolutionary from the setup to the execution, though that isn’t to insinuate it is bad because it is unoriginal. Arguably, nothing is. But this scene establishes the major conflict throughout the episode, that being FizzaRolli's self-esteem. The issue is, this scene is a contradiction from the actual cold opening.

FizzaRolli and Blitz going to the Mammon show sets up the entire backstory premise of FizzaRolli’s climb to fame, but presents a confusing representation of what Fizz’s self-esteem issues are. There are generally a ton of problems with this opening on a systemic scale. Why is the circus so run down if FizzaRolli’s shows are so popular that he has a fanclub as a teenager? Why is it the audience is supposed to be invested in FizzaRolli’s self-esteem about being good enough when every external indicator in the episode shows Fizz as already being at the top of his game. The star of the circus, his own obsessive fanclub, winning Mammon’s clown pageant and being the “Host with the Most” for Ozzie’s shows a character who has maintained a very consistent rise to fame. Shoehorning in a singular and random nobody claiming Fizz is overrated after fawning all over him doesn’t warrant the tearful meltdown he has associated with his abilities, nor would it warrant the shaky sense of esteem he apparently keeps with him the entire rest of his life. Even in Oops, it's Blit’s insinuation of FizzaRolli being a sugar baby pet of Ozzie’s that upsets him, not any jab at Fizz’s abilities.

The alternative version that would have made all of this make sense would have been not questioning FizzaRolli’s ability to do, but the crushing weight of expectation to continue to succeed. The fear of having “peaked”. It’s why he can both be at the top and severely anxious. The knowledge that once you’re at the top, there is an awfully long way to fall would have made far more sense than Fizz questioning his actual ability to get to where he is. The reason Fizz can’t be obtuse to his popularity and fame is because of every other episode we have actively seen him revel in it. Just the episode prior he is so confident in his status that he shows off ostentatiously with a limo decked out in phallic shaped sparklers and even says that it's nice not to be a recognized celebrity after that display. It’s clear that being “good enough” is not a long-standing fear for Fizz’s character, but that it should have been the pressure to keep being “good enough”. This misinterpretation of what their own character’s weaknesses are, and said weakness being the plot, is the root of the obnoxious weed that has strangled the show from the beginning.

Once again, I also can’t help but point out the lack of information on Tilla is still a huge problem with this storyline. For a character whose existence is the inciting incident for the entire series:

1) Blitzo meets Stolas to “help” his mom, being the inciting incident for the entire series to this point.

2) Tilla’s implied death in the fire is why Blitzo lost his family as a whole

3) Tilla’s implied illness is why it makes implied sense that money was never used to make the circus better/safer so the fire never happened despite FizzaRolli being so popular that he has a rabid fanbase so he must be making the circus substantial money, which Cash even claims when he is a child.

As I said, this episode is merely the accumulation of every other episode’s main problems put front and center. It’s almost an exercise in self denial to limit the number of tangents that my arguments could go down.

Regardless, the insecurity in the flashback sequence of FizzaRolli and Blitz is fundamentally not the same insecurity as seen in the rest of the episode. Not only does it not make sense for the character, it makes no sense for the storyline up to this point.

Then there is the confusion that supersedes the plot: the timeline. It is nothing new for Medrano to lack a clear definition of her own narrative; linking The Circus with Loo Loo Land was one of the most egregious misunderstandings of her own story that generally derailed the escalation of the relationship between Stolas and Blitz and required the assassination plot to be unwritten. So this episode puts us back in that exact same position by having it be that somewhere between this episode’s flashback and the accident from Oops, FizzaRolli went through puberty, won the pageant, got prosthetics, went through rehab and instantaneously exploded in fame. It is a miserably scrambled mess of events that just necessitates the practice the writers obviously utilized to get to this point: Don’t think about it.

Fizz had to have won the Clown Pageant before he got his prosthetics because he has his prosthetics. It's clear they were designed and built by Asmodeus so he would have needed connections with a Sin before that. Fizz linking his romantic relationship to Ozzie with his business relationship with Mammon specifies how that connection was made. As such he needed to win the pageant BEFORE the accident, so regardless of Fizz entering the first ever pageant or a subsequent one, it doesn’t change the complications of the timeline.

Back to the story issues at hand, Asmodeus is very clear that he would prefer if FizzaRolli would not attend the Clown Pageant that year. The fact that he has Fizz’s foundation in hand to give insinuates that Ozzie was actively hiding the makeup from his partner to keep him from going in the first place. Regardless of how much one would prefer to read character into these actions, it makes it very clear that Ozzie is not impressed by Fizz’s participation and he tries everything imaginable to talk the jester out of it, just short of forcibly locking him in their home. FizzaRolli makes the claim in this scene that being in the pageant is for himself and not Ozzie’s opinion of him, only for that to not be the case come the emotional turn of the narrative. When the reason Fizz breaks away from Mammon isn’t because he has any confidence in himself, but because Ozzie would love him anyway contradicts the entire setup. It additionally weakens Fizz’s resolve and the meaning behind his rejection of Mammon by making it not at all about him and all about the relationship. It isn’t FizzaRolli overcoming a codependency, but merely reassigning the target of it from Mammon to Asmodeus. Which, in terms of the beginning, is his brokenness. He never fixes that metaphors, just that it is okay now which is never the case with codependency.

Then there is the pointless addition of Blitz’s to the story. Unlike the Theft subplot in The Circus where it felt like some kind of repercussion should have come from the event due to its inciting nature, Blitz’s presence in this episode is purely unnecessary. Which falls back into how Medrano and Spindlehorse fail to optimize time and animation (and thus funds) in the show.

There was absolutely a way to have this episode work with only the most minor of changes that would have overwhelmingly shifted the plot and made all these elements cohesive. This is why I state this is one of the worst episodes, but that this is probably the best Helluva Boss will ever be able to achieve moving forward. It isn’t a means of insulting Medrano and the team by calling this episode incompetent, it is merely stating a fact. The issue with this episode is that it is incompetent and this is why:

As previously stated, the episode needed to keep a clear focus on the nature of Fizzarolli’s self esteem issues. They put their money on the wrong horse in practice, but just a slight contextual shift would have rectified those problems. Still have the episode play out generally the same

I personally do not like how one dimensional the antagonists are in this episode. The clown competitors deserve to have some dignity and be defined as something other than “bitch”. I am pained every time a female character in this show gets boiled down to that one word. There is a major difference between a character being “bitchy” and a character just being a “bitch”. It's demeaning to women, makes them one dimensional, devalues feminine competitiveness and ambition to being a personality flaw. It is agonizing to witness it happening over and over again.

Have Fizzarolli become progressively overwhelmed by his need to be the best and seeing younger and fresh new talent threatening his status. Not necessarily because Mammon or Ozzie would replace him, but because of his fear of losing value in himself due to equating it with his professional popularity. Have Blitz be a voice of concern about FizzaRolli’s declining mental health. Play into that relationship they started building in Oops by having Blitz say something along the lines of “This isn’t you.” Go back to the line in Oops about how he demands to know if the sex thing is all Fizz is about anymore and show that, actually, no, it isn’t.

Stepping back a bit, it feels highly inappropriate to include a child in this episode when placed in context with the show. Especially a disabled child where this merely feels like a manipulation ploy by the creators that shocks the moment out of being a true emotional connection.

For one, the pageant and Fizzarolli’s performance prior to this scene has been rather sexual, additionally the sexualization of the entire performance starts with the designs for the girls in the competition and merely becomes more overt from there. It is obvious this isn’t a show for a child as young as the one depicted, maybe a teenager, but not a child. The argument can be made that it is Hell and whatever, the show’s sense of values oscillate based on what reaction the creators are seeking to elicit from the audience. The choice of having the character be deaf is simply the cherry on top of what the purpose of this character was: Brownie points. This entire sequence is solely to garner praise for representation and animation instead of playing any narrative role or being impactful to the characters. It isn't even a deep representation, but one that disappears once they feel they did enough to earn that adulation, utilizing a real disability real people live with as a means of creating attention and praise for themselves.

Instead, this scene should have focused on the poor kid who was thrown out. It could have been a group of kids who shouldn’t be there in the first place due to their age and lack of money, allowing the deaf child to remain in the story and have a more meaningful impact. Start the scene with FizzaRolli being obviously uncomfortable with his older fans and how this life he has been working to achieve and maintain actually isn’t what he wants. Having this scene after a moment where Blitzo tells Fizz, “You haven’t changed that much. I know you, and this isn’t you.” could really show how stressful Fizz’s job is because he doesn’t belong there.

Use the kids being tossed out or shooed away as the inciting factor for why Fizz gains his confidence.

The biggest problem with the deaf child scene is that the interaction lacks any depth. FizzaRolli doesn’t break through his own insecurities by engaging with the child, instead it is cut short and the scene is immediately forgotten with the comedic villain from the beginning interrupting the moment and the kid proceeds to vanish, no longer useful to the creators.

This should have been the moment when FizzaRolli had his emotional turn.

Remove the Ozzie scene in the back room entirely and have Fizz engage with the kids. Ask them their names and what their interests are. Treat them like people and not just props. Having Fizz be poor growing up himself, have them connect on that. Growing up in an adult world with nothing and being unwanted unless they are useful for some greedy or selfish adult. Have Fizz rekindle his genuine love for performing through the kids and wanting to give them the best performance, because he sees how he inspires them. Added with the (admittedly inconsistent) world building that Imps are socially regarded very lowly, it brings power to Fizz’s position and resolve to be the performer who would have inspired himself when he was a kid.

Following that scene, have Fizzarolli cut the Meet and Greet short and run back to his dressing room where Blitz is and have Fizz ask Blitz to perform with him like when they were younger, incorporating Blitz’s presence in the story more fully and allowing their relationship to progress from the previous episode. This allows Fizz’s song to feel empowering because it is coming from him and inside himself, not because his buff boyfriend is just behind the curtain to protect him. It would legitimately be Fizz risking something in the process of rediscovering himself and reclaiming his identity as well as reconcile Fizz’s past with his present to merge a new future.

This isn't even touching on the super public reveal of the one secret Ozzie and Fizz are supposed to be living under that has been proven not to matter seeing as how many demon nobility are dating the "lowest" of commoners in this universe. Additionally, people have already known about the Ozzie and Fizz relationship based on the newspaper, so, again, having the resolution being "true love" and the reason everything is okay at the end being about a romantic relationship just further reaffirms the implied belief that the creators think codependency is romance and relationships can replace a personality.

The point being that these changes don’t fundamentally alter anything from the episode while creating a stronger character for FizzaRolli and progressing the larger story. It would have also been a moment for Blitz to grow as well and set up the starting point of a turn for his character too. It could have rehabilitated the worst parts of Seeing Stars and additionally worked on Blitz’s self esteem issues vicariously, showing how bettering yourself can also improve those around you. It also wouldn't have taken much to make these changes in the writing and editing process because these problems are so glaringly obvious and simply required a couple more eyes on the script to make it something good.

So the only reason it failed to identify any of these weaknesses can only be chalked up to pure incompetence. And excuse me if I guild the lily for a moment, but if these slight changes were missed for how they would have benefitted the characters and elevated the story, then there is no reason to believe or hope the writing will ever get better.

Helluva Boss has peaked.

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